Caged Dragon
by Reika-Hell-Flower
Summary: Kizuna is a prisoner – her house is her cell and her family, the guards. She wants to be free… but will her freedom lead to an epic adventure or something worse than a life in chains?
1. Chapter 1 - The Adventure Starts

**Note: The FanFic starts at chapter 27 of the original Manga**

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and its characters.**

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><p>Yet another day was starting.<p>

The darkness slowly disappeared as the sun emerged from behind the small hills. The sunlight barely made it to the tallest window of the mansion that stood right beside a dense forest. Every day the mansion was quiet and solemn, making it hard to tell if anyone was even living there anymore. But today was different. The tallest window burst open just as a few birds passed by chirping happily.

"Crap..." a female voice whispered angrily.

A hand emerged from the window and reached out to stop the window from hitting the wall and make any more noise. After a while, a black-haired girl peeked out of the window and looked all around her, making sure there was no one around. Her blue eyes darted from one side to another of the ground beneath her and then back at the room she was in. No one in sight.

"All clear..." she whispered to no one in particular.

She went back into the room and returned with a long rope made of tangled sheets, throwing it out the window. The rope was long enough for her to reach the floor without having to jump.

"Yes!" she whispered again, pleased with her success as she kneeled on the open window.

Once she landed on firm ground, she looked up at the rope. Well, there was no point on getting rid of it; they would realize she was gone and if there was no rope they could think she had been kidnapped, and that would make a huge and messy ruckus. She turned on the same spot towards the sun and stretched. Finally, freedom!

"Let's see..." she said, reaching to her pocket and taking out a small folded newspaper page.

_"Kaiba Land open for invited children today!"_ was the title of the news. She was no kid anymore and she sure as hell wasn't invited, but that didn't stop her from wanting to go. It had been a long time since she had gone anywhere at all. She looked up with a big smile and started walking towards the small road in front of the mansion.

"World, here I come!" she said confidently.

Kizuna Kiryuu was the name of that young girl. She had lived in that mansion for about 6 or 7 years now, and in all those years, she could count the number of times she had gotten out of the house with permission with her fingers. With the fingers of one hand, to be precise. She was what could be called "a prisoner in her own house". Not allowed to go out, Kizuna was forced to keep up with what was going on in the world via newspaper or television, and could never visit all the great places she saw. It was a boring repetitive routine for her in that house; the days were so predictably dull it was as if she was trapped in a Groundhog Day loop. They really didn't leave her much choice besides sneaking out to "escape" her home prison on a daily basis. She was usually caught relatively fast though, much to her dismay…

But today… today was going to be different! She could feel it.

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><p>Kizuna blinked wide-eyed at the huge building in front of her, labeled as <em>"Kaiba Land"<em>.

"Waa" she let out in amazement, squeezing the folded paper in her hands into a small ball.

There were some kids who were looking at her confused and others had their eyebrows raised, but she didn't even seem to notice. Well, who could blame them? Kizuna was quite obviously not a kid, so she wouldn't be allowed in for free, as was the case with the children. Yet, she was behaving much like one, staring in awe at the building. Well, who could blame _her_? The last time she had gone to an amusement park she was 7. Kizuna could swear a part of her childhood was missing due to that…

Kizuna observed the building and took a few steps back.

"So this is what nii has been working on…" she muttered to herself.

Just as she was about to turn around, she stared at the ground. It was shaking as if there was a stampede approaching. Slightly concerned, Kizuna turned around and discovered it was indeed a stampede – of children.

The kids around her were all running towards the entrance, screaming in excitement like fangirls about to gang up on some random movie star. Kizuna had to lean on the wall so she wouldn't be dragged along, squeaking lightly as she braced herself with a huge sweat-drop.

Once the crowd was away from her, she felt it was okay to leave the safety of the wall and look around to see the reason behind all the commotion; she then noticed a tall boy with brown hair and a long robe walking amongst the kids. The kids looked pleased and ecstatic to see him, so he was obviously the person they had all ran up to see.

"Ah, Kaiba-sama!" "He's a gaming genius! Our hero!" they said.

Kizuna's eyes widened in understanding. _"Oh so he's Kaiba... the one who created this amusement park,"_ she thought.

Even though she had heard about him quite often and was just now hoping to visit his amusement park, she had never actually seen him.

"Okay, everyone! Welcome to the Kaiba Land opening ceremonies!" Kaiba greeted, waving to the kids with a big smile.

The kids waved back in joy as Kizuna noticed there were two boys just behind Kaiba that seemed out of place amongst the children; one of them was almost as tall as Kaiba and had blonde hair, while the other was rather short and had black pointy hair with yellow locks. That last one could have easily been mistaken for a kid though. The girl had no idea who they were, but if they were with Kaiba, they should be important.

"_Maybe they're his friends?"_ she thought.

As soon as Kaiba said the magic words "We're open!" Kizuna ran to lean back on the wall fearing she could end up being run over by the kids. They would probably do it if it would help them get to _Kaiba Land_ first…

_"I guess I could try and sneak in along with the kids..."_ she thought, with a skeptic look on her face, as if she doubted her own plan. Yeah, as if no one would notice a teenager amongst children. She wasn't very tall, but her body was clearly different from a child's.

She shook her head fast. _"No way, that'll never work..."_

Then, as a gift sent from the skies, she heard it.

A young boy sobbed on the ground, left behind by the stampede of children already inside the amusement park. The boy looked like he had tripped and hurt his knee. It didn't look too serious.

Kizuna leered at him. Her eyes got a mischievous glint as she had another idea of how to get in.

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><p>"Hello!"<p>

The guard raised a suspicious eyebrow at the cheerful black-haired girl in front of him. Right next to her was a little kid with black hair as well and a band aid on his knee.

"My little brother wanted to come to _Kaiba Land_ but he's always tripping and getting hurt so I was sent to watch over him. Can we come in?"

The guard nodded with a grunt and the two black haired "siblings" got past him cheerfully. As soon as the guard was out of sight the girl bent over to the kid and gave him a bill.

"Thanks kid. Have fun," she said, smiling.

The little boy grinned widely. "I will! Thanks, onee-san!"

Kizuna sighed relieved as the boy ran off to join other kids. Her plan had worked. Now all she had to do was find herself a cool-looking attraction and have fun… but that part of her plan failed. As soon as she turned around, another guard appeared out of nowhere.

"Eek!" she squeaked, quickly rushing to a corridor to hide away. She ended up in an arena-like place with a glass box in the middle.

"Ara? What kind of attraction is this?" she asked herself.

There were plenty of seats surrounding the "arena", but there was nothing inside the glass box asides from two chairs and a table. There was no give-away as to what kind of game would be taking place there, and Kizuna had no time to think about it, as sounds of a gate closing and footsteps were heard coming from behind her.

_"Crap!"_ she thought, assuming it was the guards. She rushed once again to the closing gate and managed to slide to the other side before it closed for good.

"Phew..." she sighed, cleaning the sweat off her forehead. She was safe once again.

She sat on the ground for a couple of seconds, breathing heavily. Damn it she hated how easily she tired. It didn't take too long for her to feel beat as if she had run a marathon. She could only hope she wouldn't be forced to run again anytime soon…

"Hey, what are you doing here?" a girl's voice asked.

Kizuna winced quietly, a small sweat-drop emerging on the side of her head.

_"Double crap!"_ she thought. _"Why do I keep getting caught?"_

She dared a small peek behind her, just to see what the person who caught her looked like.

She was surprised to see not a guard, but a pretty brunette about her age, wearing some sort of weird armored clothing and a stern look on her face. Kizuna could only assume she was an employee responsible for some attraction somewhere on the amusement park.

"Um, um…" Kizuna stuttered, trying to come up with some sort of excuse to explain why she was there. Sadly, she wasn't good at lying under pressure. "H-hi?" she greeted awkwardly, waving her hand with a huge sweat-drop and a nervous smile.

"_What the hell was that?!"_ she yelled in her head, disappointed in herself. Well, that settled it. She was so in for it. She cursed her inability to make proper sentences when nervous as the girl in front of her looked down at her angrily.

"HI?!" the brunette snapped. "How did you get here? You're trespassing!"

Kizuna stood up feeling extremely nervous. Well, time to make up for that pathetic excuse of a greeting back there. Now she had to pull off all of her charm and lie her way through this mess! … Or that's what she wanted to do, but instead…

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to get out of the house and have fun – I had read about this place on the newspaper, and wanted to come, but nii would never let me come here so I sneaked out, then I had to run from the guard and now you've found me – I'M SO SORRY!"

Complete with an awkward bow and endless sweat-drops. If only there was a large enough hole where she could bury all of the shame she felt in that moment… and bury herself along with it while she was at it. She had just blurted out everything in a rant without even stopping to breathe and made herself look like an idiot in the most spectacularly embarrassing way ever. What a great way to start off her adventure! It didn't even last for an hour! Kizuna didn't even dare to look up from her bow. The brunette was almost surely holding her laughter right now – or calling security. Probably both.

So it was with surprise that Kizuna heard the brunette ask "What's your name?" with a sigh.

Kizuna looked up at her. "Hm… Kizuna Kiryuu…"

Then the brunette smiled. Her smile made Kizuna feel a bit calmer. Maybe she wasn't in trouble…?

"Okay then, Kizuna," the brunette said. "My name is Anzu Mazaki. I have to work so you'll just have to stick with me, okay?"

Kizuna blinked confused. "Hm… but…"

"Once my shift is over, you'll leave along with me. I'll just say you are a friend that came to visit and were waiting for me so we could go home together. Deal?" Anzu explained, winking.

On one hand, Kizuna felt extremely relieved that Anzu was not going to report her; on the other hand, she was embarrassed she couldn't have come up with an excuse that quickly…

She stood up straight and smiled at Anzu. "Hm!" she agreed, nodding.

Looks like her adventure wasn't going to be cut off short after all!

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><p><strong>[NOTE] Re-writing the old chapters because they were too short and weird... I wanted to give them the feeling of being told as it would be in the Manga, but I realized that I didn't like it, so now I'm rewriting them from my OC's point of view :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2 - Death-T 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and its characters.**

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><p>"So…" Kizuna glanced once more at the brunette's weird armored outfit. "What sort of attraction are we in?"<p>

Kizuna and her newly found friend Anzu were sitting in front of a large metal door, and next to where they stood were cyber-vests and laser guns. It seemed they were waiting for someone to turn up, and Kizuna was starting to get bored. She was never too good ad sitting down and wait…

"From what I was told, this is three-on-three shooting game. The battle takes place inside that room," Anzu explained, nodding at the door behind them. "It's an electric field in there. Those cyber-vests are equipped with sensors, so the players have to aim at a specific spot on the enemy's vest. If one gets hit, they'll feel a slight shock and will be out of the game. When the entire team is eliminated, it's game over!"

"Oh that sounds fun!" Kizuna beamed, looking at the laser guns. "And why are you wearing a vest? You're not part of the game, are you?"

Anzu laughed lightly. "God no, I'm just a guide. I'm just supposed to explain the rules to the players. I'm wearing this pretty much as way to make it more realistic, I suppose. I do have some lines to say to the players after all."

Kizuna nodded. Damn she wanted to take part on the game… It sounded really exciting, but she had promised Anzu she would stay next to her as to not cause anyone any trouble. She knew one or two things about "Death-T", and couldn't wait to see all of it, but it seemed that was not going to happen. Anzu couldn't leave "Death-T 1", so Kizuna was there stuck with her. Mission Adventure – failure.

Anzu seemed to have spotted Kizuna's disappointment. "Don't look so gloom, Kizuna-chan. You'll have more opportunities to visit Death-T in the future! You'll play these games yourself one day. Maybe I'll join you!"

"I doubt it…" Kizuna grunted, hugging her knees and burying her face in them.

Anzu couldn't know Kizuna was very unlikely to be able to return there. She had to sneak out to be able to have fun, and it was very rare when the opportunity to get out unnoticed presented itself. And the thought of her actually getting _permission_ to go there was laughable. As if that would ever happen!

"Did you hear that?" Anzu asked suddenly.

Kizuna looked up and listened. Footsteps.

"Someone's coming…"

"Must be the first set of players!" Anzu concluded.

_"Great for them…"_ Kizuna thought bitterly.

"Well, that's my cue. I have to go tell them the rules. Just wait here for a little bit, okay? You can just give them the vests and laser guns when they get here and pretend you're a guide too."

Kizuna nodded. She might as well make herself useful since she couldn't do anything else. She watched as Anzu turned the corner and heard her shout out "Emergency!", the first thing she was supposed to say when met up with players.

Afterwards, though, she heard exalted voices snapping at each other. What was going on?

"What're you doing here?!" she heard Anzu ask.

"What're _you_ doing here, Anzu?!"

That last voice was male… probably a boy her age from the sound of it. Who was he? Kizuna had to control herself to not take a peek and see for herself.

"Today's my first day of work at this amusement park! I was fired from Burger World! All I did was knock out a costumer who touched my butt…" she heard Anzu explain, while Kizuna nodded. Totally understandable. "So I came here and wound up hired as a guide for this attraction! But I didn't think I'd see you guys here! Kizuna-chan!"

Kizuna's body stiffened as she heard Anzu call her name.

"Come on out, Kizuna-chan, it's fine," Anzu called again.

Well, if she said so… Kizuna carefully turned the corner as Anzu did minutes ago and looked worriedly at the people in front of her. There were three boys, two of which she recognized immediately as being the ones that were with Kaiba at the entrance of the amusement park. The third boy had brown hair and was holding a baby in his arms. Said baby was staring intently at Anzu and as soon as Kizuna walked in he turned his gluttonous stare towards her instead.

"Hm… is it really okay, Anzu-san?"

Anzu waved carelessly while smiling. "Don't worry, don't worry, it's okay. Kizuna-chan, this is Yuugi-kun," Anzu introduced, gesturing towards the shortest of the three boys, who waved at her. "That is Jonouchi," she added, gesturing towards the blonde boy, who shot her a suspicious look, "and Honda. Guys, this is Kizuna Kiryuu."

"Is she a guide too?" Yuugi asked.

"Oh no, she sneaked in just some time ago. I found her while I was getting ready…" Anzu clarified, then explaining exactly how the two met. Fortunately she left out the part where Kizuna made an absolute fool of herself while trying to come up with an excuse...

"I see…" Yuugi muttered. "So you got here by accident, Kizuna-san?"

Accident? Well, she had full intentions of visiting the amusement park… including that area… though she did end up there while trying to hide so… technically it _was_ an accident?

"Kind of… hehe…" she agreed, scratching the back of her head sheepishly.

The blonde boy was still staring at her with suspicion written all over his face and pointed at her forehead. "This is no place for a girl like you… This is a dangerous place!"

Kizuna looked at him surprised. "H-how can an amusement park be dangerous?" And what did he mean "a girl like _her_?".

"You were shouting for help just now," Jonouchi pointed out, looking at Anzu.

"Oh that's just my line! Part of the attraction! After that, there's another line I say to the guest…" Anzu took a deep breath and shouted "This space station is being destroyed by an enemy raid! You're the only ones who can save us! Please put on these cyber-bests and laser guns. And defeat them!" She sighed and returned to her normal posture. "See?"

The three boys just stared at her.

"Anzu… you're one careless broad!" Jonouchi teased.

"Eh… was my acting bad? I've been practicing a lot!" Anzu protested.

"You idiot! You don't know what this theme-park is really about, do you?"

Kizuna looked at Anzu confused and was relieved to see she looked just as confused as her. Why did he sound so annoyed?

"And now even this Kizuna chick was dragged into this… Meh, ignorance is bliss…" he ranted on.

_"What on earth is he talking about?" _Kizuna thought, looking at Jonouchi.

"It looks like the first attraction is a shooting battle!" Honda commented, looking at the cyber-vests.

"There's cyber-vest and guns here!" Yuugi said, while Jonouchi looked at them muttering about how bright they were.

Kizuna remembered she was supposed to hand them the vests and guns for Anzu, and hurried towards the boys to hand them to them.

"They look good on you!" Anzu commented after the three boys were done putting on their vests. She then proceeded to explain to them how the attraction worked.

Meanwhile Kizuna spaced out, staring at the metal door. She was a bit apprehensive after Jonouchi's rant… Could she really have gotten herself into a dangerous place? Nah, that couldn't be. He was probably just trying to scare them. Kizuna turned her look back to the three boys, and noticed Yuugi's expression wasn't much different from the one she was just sporting. He looked very worried.

"Hey, Anzu! During the game, watch this brat, will ya?" Honda said, giving the baby he was carrying to Anzu.

"Is… is this your kid, Honda?" she asked.

"Shut up!"

Anzu smiled at the baby, saying "Kootchi kootchi" as the baby squealed.

Kizuna looked at the baby smiling. Babies were so cute! Just as she was about to walk towards them to play with the baby, the child shoved his head in-between Anzu's breasts aggressively and groped them with a perverted grin.

Kizuna's eyes went wide staring at the perverted baby, and she immediately froze in place. _"So much for kids being innocent…"_

Anzu stared at the baby in shock, muttering "What the… this kid's a pervert!"

Before Anzu could complain any longer, the three boys went on towards the metal gate, leaving her, Kizuna and the baby behind. "Okay, let's go!" they yelled.

"Good luck!" Anzu said, swiftly pushing the baby's hand away from her chest.

"So… now we just wait?" Kizuna asked, feeling the boredom return in full-speed.

"We can watch how the game goes from this TV right here!" Anzu replied, pointing to a TV screen that was on the wall. "Come on, let's see how well they do."

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><p>Well, it wasn't the same as playing it herself, but it was better than doing nothing. They couldn't hear what they were saying, but the game started out well for Anzu's friends – Jonouchi managed to take one of the enemies out, but not in the way he was supposed to…<p>

"Wow! They took down one of the opponents! They're in the lead!" Anzu commented happily as the three boys were seen on the screen.

A small sweat-drop emerged on Kizuna's head. "Yeah, but… wasn't he supposed to shoot the enemy? He just kicked him in the head…"

"Well, it's the result that counts!"

The baby in Anzu's arms looked up at Anzu, giggling lightly as his cheeks turned red.

"Hey, Anzu-chan! How about we leave them alone and go on a date in the park?" he asked casually.

Both Anzu and Kizuna looked at him with shocked expressions. What was it with that kid...?

"You're a pretty cheeky kid…" Anzu replied as she scratched her cheek, apparently not sure of how to react to his proposal. "What's your name?"

"My name? It's Jouji!" the baby said happily, as if Anzu asking his name was already a sign of her liking him. "I saw a nice milk stand in the park… Kizuna-chan could come too," he added, looking at Kizuna's chest with a slightly perverted look.

Kizuna raised an eyebrow. That was so wrong in so many levels…_ "But why would I want to…?"_ she thought.

Jouji turned back to Anzu, seemingly taking Kizuna's uncomfortable silence for a "Yes, I'd love to".

"So? We could go -"

Just then, Honda, Jonouchi and Yuugi came out of the arena, interrupting Jouji, who looked at them angrily.

"Hey, Honda! Why're we running?! Running as soon as they start shooting is really cowardly!" Jonouchi yelled, though Honda seemed to be deep in thought and thus didn't answer.

"Ah! Guys, you can't leave while the game's still going!" Anzu warned.

"Is something wrong, Honda-san?" Kizuna asked, worried. From the look on his face something was going on. They were winning though, so there was no reason for him to look upset…

Honda kept silent for a moment and then he finally answered. "This… isn't a fair game!"

Yuugi's eyes widened. "Wha?!"

"Our guns are useless!" Honda snapped, throwing his gun at the ground. "We can't possible win! Kaiba rigged the game!"

Kizuna covered her mouth with one hand, looking at Honda with concern. Why would Kaiba, famous for being a great gamer, have to rig a game in his own theme park? It's not like he was playing against those three boys… _right?_

Jouji, the baby, had other concerns in his mind. He took hold of Anzu's gun and growled angrily. "You're interrupting Anzu-chan and I! And insulting Kaiba-sama… I can't forgive you!"

He fired on their direction without even a second thought.

Honda, Jonouchi and Yuugi had to dodge it quickly, making the ray of the gun shoot the cyber-vests on display instead. The moment the ray connected with one of the vests, a huge current could be seen around it.

Kizuna stepped back startled even though the current was away from her. _The hell was that?!_

"Wh-what the…?! When the ray hit the sensor, the spare vest was hit with a huge current!" Honda said in shock.

"But wouldn't a current like that kill whoever was wearing that?" Kizuna asked, pointing at the vest. "That's way too dangerous!"

Honda turned to Jouji and seized the gun from his hand, comparing it to his own. "That's exactly what Kaiba's expecting, Kizuna! Our guns and Anzu's gun look exactly the same, but they're built completely differently! And the mercenaries probably all have this type of gun!"

"Mercenaries…?" Anzu and Kizuna muttered at the same time with scared expressions.

"Kaiba must have not have known Anzu had this job or he'd never have given her that gun…" Jonouchi commented.

Anzu shivered behind him, terrified at what was going on. "I quit!" she decided.

"So you still think that a theme park can't be dangerous?" Jonouchi sneered, looking at Kizuna with his arms crossed.

Kizuna looked back at him annoyed. "How could I have guessed that the games would turn out like this?" she retorted. "If nii finds out about this I might as well start digging my grave…" she added, as several black lines dropped on her face. Something like this could only happen to her, of course. All she wanted was to have fun… why did she have to end up lost in a death trap that Kaiba set up for those guys? And why did he want them to die anyway?

"Your brother? You didn't tell him you were coming here?" Anzu asked, looking at her, as the three boys were discussing how they could go back into the game and beat the mercenaries.

Kizuna looked at the ground feeling like a kid being scolded. "No… he would never let me out of the house… and seeing as how this is turning out…"

She stopped herself in time. She was just about to add "… I should have listened to him" but hell if she would ever admit that he was right. All that talk about her having to be more careful and looking out for her safety, blah-blah-blah. As if there was any way of her knowing that place was going to be dangerous… it's not her fault the world is full of crazy people…

Kizuna looked again at Anzu who seemed concerned. She was probably wondering why her brother wouldn't let her leave the house. Before she could ask anything though, Jouji, who was still on her lap, pointed angrily at the boys.

"You guys have been saying nothing but slander about Kaiba-sama! Give back the gun so I can shoot you!" he snapped.

Honda looked at Jouji in interest, receiving only a glare as response. After a few seconds, he smirked. "I know how to beat this. Leave it to me!"


	3. Chapter 3 - Shock Therapy

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and its characters.**

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><p>"We cleared the first level! And that was just a warm-up! Right, Yuugi?"<p>

Jonouchi walked ahead of the group, clearly feeling very confident about the boys' victory on Death-T 1. Just as Honda had said, he handled the group of mercenaries himself – with a little help from his nephew. In true "cowboy style", he tricked the "villains" into believing he was forfeiting, only to get a gun from his nephew, concealed in his back, and shot them both. Kizuna was quite impressed. That was about as much action as she had managed to see in her whole life outside a movie.

"But the last game almost killed us!" Yuugi reasoned. "Kaiba-kun must have even more dangerous games prepared!"

"Yuugi's right!" Honda agreed. "Keep your eyes open! The next attraction must be up ahead!"

Kizuna walked behind the boys with a concerned expression. To think that when the day started all she wanted to do was sneak out to have fun in a new amusement park… and now she was finding herself involved in some kind of conspiracy to kill those three teens. Why did Kaiba want them dead? She had asked Anzu about it, but the brunette – too busy keeping Jouji off her – had only vaguely mentioned some sort of "duel" in which Yuugi beat Kaiba. Kizuna could only guess she meant a Duel Monsters duel. But who would _kill_ over a game? Sounded pretty extreme… Especially someone who is so famous and supposedly talented at said game. Surely he didn't need to kill off his competition in order to succeed…

All four teens seem to share a great deal of animosity towards Kaiba and were apprehensive of what they would have to face in Death-T. Apparently the whole thing had been designed with the intent of killing them, but Kizuna had a hard time believing it. She knew a couple of things about Death-T, and she knew for a _fact_ that her nii would never agree to something that would cause someone's death. Maybe he didn't know…?

Kizuna's train of thought was interrupted by Anzu's sigh of annoyance.

"But why do _I_ have to carry the kid?" she asked, holding Jouji in her hands.

Despite Honda's impressive performance in Death-T 1, he had only managed to convince his nephew to help him under the promise of bathing with Anzu. Figures that perverted brat would want something like that in return…

Honda turned to face Anzu's angered expression. "Sorry, Anzu! Jouji will pitch a fit if you don't!"

"I can't believe this!" Anzu whined, as the baby looked up at her with a wide grin.

All Kizuna could do was give the brunette a sympathetic look. She did not envy her at all. And had no intentions on offering to carry him instead.

"Anyway!" Jonouchi suddenly called out. "Whatever's up ahead, we'll beat it!"

Within seconds, they found themselves at the entrance of Death-T 2. His confident aura dissipated almost instantly.

There was a wooden sign that read "Death-T 2" above their heads, the number "2" being written in what looked like blood. Over the sign was a skeleton, and there were several skulls and bones lying around. The arena of the game looked like a graveyard.

Kizuna looked around at the skulls impressed. She knew Death-T 2 was going to have something to do with the "horror theme" but didn't know exactly how it would look like. Everything looked very realistic, and Kizuna couldn't approve more – she had always been a big horror movie fan.

"It looks cooler than I imagined…" Kizuna thought aloud.

"What did you say?"

Kizuna jumped slightly, looking at Anzu. The brunette was looking at Kizuna with a puzzled expression. Crap. She forgot Anzu was standing right next to her! Why did she say that aloud? She wasn't too sure how the rest of the group would react if they knew she wasn't as ignorant about the Death-T games as they were – would they think her nii was involved in the conspiracy to kill them as Kaiba was? Would they turn against him? They could even think that she was in on it as well!

She swept her fringe behind her ear nervously and smiled. "Ah… I said it looks cool, that's all… hehe…" She chuckled awkwardly.

Anzu raised an eyebrow. "Oh… I can't say I like this kind of thing, but…"

Kizuna avoided her stare. She wasn't too sure Anzu was convinced. Not with her pathetic attempt at avoiding the issue. How long would she able to hide this from them?

She turned her attention to Jonouchi, who was even less impressed with Death-T 2 than Anzu was.

"Scary…" he muttered, as many sweat-drops emerged on his face. "Past this point, everything turns creepy!" He stepped away from the entrance, and didn't look too eager to go in anymore.

"Yeah… there's a chill going up my back!" Honda added. "But we have to keep going!"

Honda and Yuugi went on ahead, with Anzu and Kizuna right behind them. Jonouchi remained in the back, waiting for the girls to go past them.

"Ladies first!" he said, obviously trying his best to sound cheerful.

Anzu looked back at him angrily. "What happened to all your tough talk?!" she protested.

"Are you okay, Jon-san?" Kizuna asked worriedly, looking back at him. He seemed so confident before, it was kind of weird to see him freak out like that.

Jonouchi avoided looking at the girls. "I… um… I'm not good with this sort of thing, dangit!" he muttered, no longer able to hide his fear.

Kizuna smiled. "Aw, it's okay, Jon-san," she said, trying to comfort him. "These skeletons are all fake!" She picked up a skull that was nearby and opened its mouth in front of Jonouchi's face.

"See?" she asked cheerfully.

It did not work as she expected.

Jonouchi screamed and jumped back. "GAAAH! What are you doing?! Put that thing down!" He got as far away as he could from the skull, and ended up bumping into someone that was standing behind him.

"Welcome… to the Horror Zone…" said a creepy old-sounding voice, belonging to whoever Jonouchi bumped into.

Jonouchi looked behind him. The man now facing him was short and shrouded in darkness, wearing a black cloak that showed only his fat and worn-out face. He was carrying a lamp and laughed eerily.

"GYAAAAH!"

Jonouchi screamed in fear and dashed towards hiding behind Kizuna. She was still holding the skull in her hands and looked at the creepy old man with a curious expression. Who could he be…?

"Honored guests… If you wish to keep your lives, you should not scream so much past this point… Heheh…" the man warned, grinning wickedly.

"M-moron! He snuck up behind me!" Jonouchi growled, pointing angrily at the man from behind Kizuna.

"I will guide you to the next attraction… Follow me, please…"

The man walked past Jonouchi and Kizuna. Suddenly, Yuugi pointed at him.

"That guy!" he shouted. "He's Kaiba's butler!"

Everyone stared at the old man, who stopped in his tracks for a few seconds. He recovered from his cover being blown rather quickly, gesturing to something behind him. "Ahem… now then… everyone, please direct your attention here…"

There was an odd version of a ghost train behind him, with six seats. Kizuna had seen a couple of such rides – on magazines and movies, of course – but had never been on one.

"This enjoyable ride will take you to your next destination!" Kaiba's butler announced, ignoring Jonouchi's muttered protests.

"W-we're supposed to ride this?!" he then yelled out loud. "A haunted house ride?!"

Kizuna joined her hands together and smiled happily. "Waa, I've never been in one! So cool!" she squealed excited, unable to control herself.

Jonouchi, still behind her, made a small noise of disagreement.

"Kizuna-chan…" Anzu said calmly, sighing. "We're not supposed to be having fun… They're trying to kill us, remember?"

Kizuna blinked, as the full extent of the situation they were currently in settled in on her mind again. She had momentarily forgotten about that. "… Oh…"

"Where does the ride lead?" Yuugi asked the butler.

The man looked at him, still grinning. "You'll find out when you get there…"

"We have to take this ride to get to the next game!" Honda concluded.

Jonouchi was not happy about this conclusion, as he made a louder sound of obvious dread, still slightly hidden behind Kizuna. She looked back at him, checking if he was okay.

"I get to ride on Anzu-chan's lap!" Jouji squealed, clapping.

"Everyone take your seats, please!"

The teens all sat on the ghost train, though some more pleased than others. Jonouchi and Honda sat at the front, though Jonouchi was still looking as if he wanted to run away immediately. Anzu and Yuugi sat on the seats in the middle, while Jouji was sat comfortably on Anzu's lap. Kizuna was left to sit on the back, with an empty seat to her left. She was clearly the only one that seemed relatively pleased. As much as she knew about the danger of death they were facing, she still had trouble taking it seriously. And _haunted house rides_! How could she not be excited about that?

"These chairs are too hard…" Anzu whined in front of her.

Jouji stretched his arms. "My seat's nice and soft!" he giggled, causing Yuugi to glare at him.

Suddenly, without warning, the teens found themselves trapped. Their arms were restrained by metal straps and a weird metal helmet connected to their chairs appeared, getting their head stuck as well.

"Eh?!"

"KYAAAH!"

"What the…?!"

"My head and arms are stuck!"

"I can't move!"

The teens tried to release themselves, but it was impossible. Kizuna stopped struggling quickly. If the boys couldn't get themselves out, she had no chance of doing it.

"Hey, you! What the heck are you planning?!" Jonouchi yelled.

"Hohoho…" the butler chuckled. "The Game of Death has begun… First of all, the place that ride will take you to… is called 'Murder Mansion'… in all of Death-T, it is the one place soaked through and through with terror…"

Jonouchi yelped at hearing that while Kizuna made a small gleeful "Whoa".

"And…" the butler went on with his explanation. "… on the way to the Murder Mansion, I hope everyone enjoys this mini-game, 'Electric Chair Ride of Death'. Though… if you have no luck, this game might result in your deaths… heehee…"

He laughed at the teens' terrified expressions. Kizuna looked at him with a frown.

"What the heck is an 'Electric Chair Ride of Death'?!" Jonouchi asked furiously, still fighting to get free.

"I shall explain the rules… as you probably know, you are all sitting in electric chairs. Throughout history, devices like these have sent countless criminals to their maker… You will be taking the 'Electric Chair Ride' into the dark… During the ride, you might catch sight of some fearful things, and scream! However, if your voice heard even once… the sensor in your helmet will hear, and jolt you with one million volts of electricity!"

Kizuna opened her mouth slightly in shock. One million volts?! That was ridiculous!

Jonouchi turned back to face the others. "Hey, everyone! No matter what, don't make a sound!"

Honda, Yuugi and Anzu all yelled in perfect unison: "Jonouchi! You're the one we're worried about!"

The blonde sweat-dropped. "N-no way…"

Kizuna was now looking more serious than before. This ride was no joke. They could actually die there.

"WAAAAH!" Anzu cried in despair. "I want to go home!"

"I'm sorry, Anzu…" Yuugi apologized. "It's my fault you're in this mess…"

He then looked back at Kizuna. "Sorry to you too, Kizuna-san… We don't even know each other and still…"

She blinked. "Ahh… How is this _your_ fault? It wasn't you who built this, right?" She felt her heart tighten. "Plus, I'm the one who decided to sneak in… if anything, this is what I get for disobeying nii…"

Yuugi looked down, seemingly deep in thought.

The creepy butler then sat next to Kizuna, getting restrained just like the teens did. "As your guide, I will also participate in this game!" he announced, as to answer Kizuna's questioning look. "And of course, if I make a sound, I'll be shocked! This chair is just like yours! Now, prepare yourselves!"

Kizuna's brows furrowed. She was not happy about having that guy sat next to her. And she did not truly believe him when he said his chair was exactly like theirs.

With a loud noise, the gate opened at once and the train started moving forward. Time went by, as the train moved forward in complete darkness. All was silent.

Once the lights went on, horrible monsters and mummies were revealed, hovering over their heads and lashing at them. They reached out with claws and tongues, clearly doing their best to make them scream.

Kizuna looked up at the monster that was in front of her. She didn't feel scared. Ever since she was young, she didn't get easily frightened, and after the surprise of seeing it right in front of her face, she was now just admiring how realistic the creature looked. She noticed everyone else jumped in their seats, but managed to not make a sound.

She then heard a small "click" noise to her left. The black-haired girl barely had time to look at the butler before feeling gusts of wind directed to her face. They were coming from small holes in her chair. Something else came out from those holes – robotic hands that pinched, tickled and rubbed.

With a twitch, she felt the robotic hand rubbing her chest, and noticed they were doing just the same to Anzu.

"_Damn these stupid perverted robotic hands…"_ she thought annoyed, clenching her fists and focusing her stare on the back of the chair in front of her. The butler was – surprise – cheating. He hadn't mentioned anything about props on the chairs that would try and lead them to make noises! As far as they knew, all they had to do was not scream!

After a few seconds, she saw Jouji crawling out of Anzu's lap. He gestured for her to stay quiet (_"As if I could say anything without getting zapped!"_) and sat on the butler's lap. She didn't know what he was going to do, but he was obviously going to do something to the butler.

Before the butler knew it, Jouji crawled out of his lap as quickly as he had crawled up to it, leaving behind two "presents". Kizuna moved even further away from the butler's seat wrinkling her nose. The butler noticed her expression and looked at his lap. What he saw got him screaming in disgust. A zapping noise was heard, and the butler felt a million volts jolting through his body.

The ghost train stopped in front of another gate, and the teens were now free to release themselves. The butler, however, was naturally out cold.

Kizuna got out of her seat quickly, not wanting to stay next to the butler's seat any longer.

"Phew… we made it to the goal!" Honda said happily. "You can talk now!"

He stood up from his seat, looking at Yuugi, Anzu and Kizuna, who were all already up. "Yuugi, are you okay?" he asked. "How about you two, Anzu, Kizuna?"

"Yeah!"

"Yeah."

"I'm fine."

Honda then turned to Jonouchi. He had fainted, probably while the train was still moving.

"He fainted! That's probably how he survived!"

Kizuna walked up to Jonouchi and poked his face lightly. "Hey Jon-san…"

Jonouchi's eyes twitched open. Once he had them fully open, he screamed for dear life.

"GYAAAAH!"

"Jon-san, the ride is over!" Kizuna smiled at his scared face. "Put on your happy face!"

Jonouchi held on to his heart as Kizuna moved away for him so he could get out of his seat. It seemed as if he was going to need a couple of minutes to recover from the ordeal.

She looked at what stood in front of them. It was a tall ominous mansion, suspiciously similar to her own house, though worn out and decaying. She suppressed a small smile. Had nii based that house off their own?

"So this is the 'Murder Mansion'…" she observed, as she felt Jonouchi standing behind her again.

Anzu turned to her with a serious expression. "Before we go… Kizuna-chan, is there something you want to tell us?"

Kizuna looked at her, taken aback by her question. "Eh…? L-like what?"

"Like…" Anzu took a step towards Kizuna. It didn't feel threatening but Kizuna took a step back anyway.

"What do you know about these attractions?"

* * *

><p><strong>[AN: Phew, finally done re-writing the old chapters... Sorry it took so long to update, I was working on my other FanFiction "A Golden Opportunity" and kind of neglected the other ones... Anyway, I'm coming back to this FanFiction, now that the old ones are revamped I can get back to the story.]**


	4. Chapter 4 - Truth

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and its characters.**

* * *

><p>Kizuna looked at Anzu's serious expression and then at the boy's confused looks. Well, now she was in for it. What a mess. She should have expected to be caught sooner or later, really…<p>

"Anzu, what are you talking about?" asked Yuugi, who seemed the most confused of all.

"You saying this chick knows something we don't?" Jonouchi wanted to know, now standing right next to Kizuna while pointing at her.

The black-haired girl took a few steps away from him just in case. "U-um, I…" She looked at Honda, who was staring back at her with an unreadable expression. What could _he_ be thinking…?

"You said that your brother never lets you out of the house," Anzu said, now speaking calmly as if trying to reassure Kizuna that she was not accusing her. "And when we found Death-T 2, you said 'It looks cooler than I imagined'. You know what these attractions are all about, don't you?"

"I, well, not… exactly…" Kizuna gulped.

Things were not working out the way she expected. Actually, she hadn't really put much thought into how things would work out in the first place. As usual. She tried not to look at Jonouchi, whose expression was now morphing into an angered scowl.

"What?! We've been fighting for our lives here and you knew what we were up against from the beginning?!" he snapped.

"N-no!" she yelped, putting up her hands in defense. "I swear, I didn't…!"

"Calm down, Jonouchi, let her explain," Honda reasoned, sounding less angry than the blonde, but still looking at Kizuna with the same hard-to-read look.

The blonde looked at his friend angrily, ready to argue, but his look made him quiet down. He instead growled and crossed his arms, his feeling of suspicion towards Kizuna returning as he looked at her.

The girl looked at the teens nervously, waiting to see who would snap at her next. She couldn't blame them for being angry at her. She would be angry to if she found out someone had been withholding important information from her. Not that she knew all that much anyway. Bu then again, every little detail she remembered could have been important for them. She was so worried about what they would think of her and her nii that she didn't think about it any other way.

"Kizuna-san…" Yuugi called, making her look up at him and gulp again. "Please tell us what you know."

She sighed and looked down, defeated. She couldn't lie to that face, even if she wanted to. Even though he was the shortest and least intimidating of the bunch, there was something about him that made him the obvious leader of the group.

"Okay… I… I do know some things about Death-T, but…!" She added the "but" quickly as Jonouchi's growl increased in volume. "… I had no idea that these games were going to be deadly! I swear! I honestly thought that they were just regular games to entertain the costumers!"

"_How_ do you know about the games in Death-T?" Anzu insisted.

Kizuna swept her fringe behind her ear, still looking down nervously. "… My nii… helped design this place…"

All the teens got the same shocked expression in unison.

"Your brother works for Kaiba?!" Yuugi gasped.

"He's involved in this?!" Jonouchi asked, even more angrily.

"No, he's not!" Kizuna clenched her fists, now looking angry as well. They were assuming exactly what she feared they would. "He doesn't know Death-T's true purpose, I'm sure of it!"

"But you said he helped design it…" Anzu said, trying to calm down after the revelation.

Kizuna took a deep breath and faced the teens' piercing stares head on. "My nii, Ryuusuke Takano, is an architect for Kaiba Corp. The best one, actually. He designs most of the buildings for the company, and sometimes, when he's on a tight schedule, he brings his work home." She paused, suppressing a smile as she remembered one particular event that involved Kizuna using the drawings he had made for a project to make paper-airplanes. "Heh… he's a bit of a workaholic, so he spends hours locked in his office working, even at home… Anyway, he helped design the building of Death-T, and the rooms within it. That's why I knew Death-T 2 had something to do with the horror theme."

Anzu blinked. "But then… your brother, Ryuusuke, he didn't participate on planning the actual games, did he?"

Kizuna shook her head. "No. All he had to do was design the building. He had a vague idea of what the games would involve, but he was only told what he needed to know. I'm pretty sure he designed that house…" She gestured towards the decrepit mansion in front of them. "… but he doesn't know the details involved in the games or anything."

She looked at the four friends, from one slightly suspicious face to another. She had told them the truth, so now all she could do was hope for the best. Worst case scenario, they wouldn't want anything do to with her and would leave her behind. Then she'd just have to find a way out by herself.

"I'm really sorry I didn't say anything earlier…" she added. "But I was afraid that you guys would think I was involved in it and leave me behind… It was stupid, I should have been honest from the beginning, I know…"

They all looked at each other. It seemed they were trying to have a telepathic talk with each other as to whether or not they should believe her. Maybe best friends could do stuff like that. She could sometimes guess what _her_ best friend was thinking, so she wouldn't be surprised.

She took a deep breath… waiting for the verdict…

Anzu was the one to talk first. She made a small smile. "I believe you, Kizuna-chan."

Yuugi nodded, smiling as well. "Me too. You sounded honest, and haven't done anything against us yet, so there's no reason to be suspicious."

Kizuna smiled. Thank goodness. She looked at the remaining two, who were clearly less easy to convince than their friends.

Honda shrugged. "Well, you don't seem like a bad person. I don't know about your brother, but without knowing the guy we can't really jump to conclusions. If Yuugi's okay with it, then I'm good as well."

He turned to Jonouchi. The blonde took a couple of seconds to keep staring at Kizuna, who held her breath while waiting for him to talk. Finally, he sighed. "Well, I suppose if she wanted us to get whacked she would have done something sooner about it. Not that a girl like her could do anything to us, though…" Kizuna pouted, annoyed, but he grinned and spoke again. "Alright, I trust ya!"

She sighed of relief. "I'm glad… I'm really sorry for not saying anything sooner…"

"That's alright, Kizuna-chan," Anzu assured. "But next time it's best to be honest from the beginning, right?"

Kizuna nodded. "Right… I promise I'll tell you everything I know from now on to help you guys get out of here."

"You can start with telling us what you know about this next game," Honda said, pointing at the decrepit house.

She looked at it. "From nii's notes, there is a puzzle inside that has to be solved in order to get to the exit. There weren't any more details about it since the game didn't affect the outline of the house."

"Not a lot of information, but at least we know what kind of game it is," Yuugi commented.

"After this, the last room has something to do with cubes…" Kizuna added, putting a finger on her chin as she tried to remember. "Hum… something about climbing to the top by using cubes…?"

"Let's just worry about this one and then we'll take care of that 'cube game' thing," Jonouchi suggested, looking at the mansion apprehensively. "I really don't like the look of this place…"

"Kizuna-chan…" Anzu called, putting a hand on her shoulder.

The black-haired girl looked at her, blinking. "Yeah?"

"Sorry about confronting you like that, but I had to know…"

"Oh no, you did the right thing…" Kizuna waved the issue away with her hand. "Really, I would have been suspicious too… I'm… really bad under pressure, so…" She chuckled awkwardly.

Anzu accompanied her in her light chuckle. "Yeah… No good with lying, uh?"

Kizuna shook her head. "No… Nii knows just how to use it to his advantage, too…" she added, bitterly.

"Speaking of your brother… Takano is his last name, right? It's different from yours… Are your parents separated?" Anzu questioned, pausing between each sentence as if she was giving Kizuna enough time to interrupt her in case the question was too personal.

She smiled. "Actually, Ryuu-nii isn't my real brother. Not by blood, anyway. My parents started taking care of him when he was 15, after he ran away from home. He's been with us since."

"I see… And… why doesn't he let you out of the house?"

Kizuna pouted. "That's just because he's stupid. He won't let me get out nor do anything fun. He doesn't want me to get hurt or sick, but he's way too exaggerated about it…"

Anzu blinked. "Do you get sick often?"

Kizuna shrugged. "I guess… I'm not very strong physically so…"

The brunette looked at her sadly. Kizuna felt angry at herself for talking too much. She hated it when people pitied her due to her poor health condition. Sure, she hadn't told Anzu _everything _about her health; if she had, she would get even more worried. And then what – they would all start overprotecting her and checking on her every other minute to make sure she didn't drop to the side with a fever? She couldn't take that. There was enough of that at home…

Suddenly, Yuugi reached for his pocket and took out some cards. Trading cards, from the popular game Duel Monsters. He looked worried.

"What's wrong, Yuugi?" Jonouchi wanted to know.

"You've got something?" Anzu asked eagerly, walking over to him.

"The cards are telling me… grandpa is in a dangerous condition, and might die!" Yuugi revealed, looking extremely serious and preoccupied.

Kizuna's eyes widened. _"Wait… the _cards_ were telling him? What did he mean with that?"_

"Hm… Yuugi-san…? What's wrong with your grandpa?" she asked, deciding to ignore the whole "cards can talk" issue.

Yuugi stared at the cards with a fierce expression. "It was Kaiba. He challenged my grandpa to a Duel Monsters match… Grandpa lost, and Kaiba punished him with a penalty game."

Kizuna tilted her head to the side. "Penalty…?"

"His grandpa is in the hospital right now, Kizuna," Honda added. "And now Yuugi has to defeat Kaiba."

She looked at the mansion. This Kaiba person was obviously very dangerous. What kind of boss did her nii have? Never in all of those years had he remembered to mention he was working for a psychopath! Still, she had no idea what Yuugi had meant with "penalty game"…

"Let's get moving! Hurry up!" Jonouchi yelled, heading towards the door.

"Come on, Yuugi! Let's hurry up and beat this attraction!" Honda added, standing next to Jonouchi.

Once everyone was at the door of the mansion, Honda looked back. "Okay, let's go inside!"

Everyone nodded, and he turned around to kick the door open.

"_No need for that dramatic entrance…"_ Kizuna thought with a sweat-drop.

The inside of the house was much alike the outside. Decrepit and old. There was a fireplace to the left, and a suit of armor right in front of them. There was dust everywhere and pieces of wood on the floor were missing.

"It smells like dust, and the stagnant air is choking…" Honda commented darkly.

"Don't move until your eyes get used to the dark!" Yuugi warned.

Kizuna looked around, trying to spot anything that would give clues to the puzzle. If they were, in fact, inside a house supposed to have its inspirations on horror movies, there were a couple of things they could expect. That is, if Kaiba was going for the classics. And the one thing that usually always happened when someone walked inside a haunted house was…

"The door!" Kizuna gasped, turning around.

**SLAM**

Too late. The other teens all looked behind them, startled. The door had closed, and now they were trapped inside.

"Ugh… I knew it…" Kizuna groaned. "The doors always close behind people when they walk into a haunted house…" She hid her face in her palm, ashamed at forgetting such a cliché.

Anzu walked past Kizuna, trying to open the door. "They won't open!"

Jonouchi shoved her aside, now freaking out completely. "Damn! It won't open! Does anyone have a wire? Anything with a sharp point! I can open this door!"

Anzu sweat-dropped. "Jonouchi… You have weird talents…"

Kizuna didn't care about that. She was checking her pockets, but unfortunately there was nothing she had that he could use to pry it open.

"Hey, Jonouchi! Why should we leave through the door we came in?! Moron! Let's find the exit!" Jouji scolded, surprising everyone.

"Jouji is right! We have to find the exit to advance!" Honda said.

Yuugi nodded. "Everyone split up and look for an exit!"

The group did just that, looking around for anything that could point them towards the exit. Anzu checked around the room, same as Yuugi. Kizuna bent over next to the fireplace and looked inside it. It wouldn't have surprised her if there was a latter inside leading to a secret floor. When she stood back up, she found Yuugi looking at the suit of armor. There was a slip of paper on the helmet.

"What does that say, Yuugi-san?" she asked, walking over to him.

He took it out and held it in his hands. She looked over his shoulder.

"It says…" he started.

_bllood_

"… bllood?" Kizuna completed, disappointed. Yet another cliché…

"What does this mean? Creepy…" he muttered.

"And misspelled," she grunted, frowning at the paper.

Yuugi looked at Kizuna confused. "What?"

She pointed at the two "l's". "'Blood' only has one 'l'. You would have thought that a so-called 'genius' would know that…"

Yuugi blinked and looked back at the paper, deep in thought.

Kizuna looked behind them to find Jonouchi walking towards them with an annoyed expression.

"This place is weird!" he said. "There's no exit!"

Honda tried checking the second floor, but upon climbing the stairs, he found that they didn't lead anywhere but the ceiling. There was no second floor.

Kizuna huffed. "Of course not. The exit is in a secret floor. It's always like this in haunted houses, nothing is ever as it seems. We will never find the exit until we beat whatever puzzle is in this place."

"Right you are, girl."

She yelped at the unknown voice and jumped back, as Jonouchi and Yuugi looked to see who had talked.

Kaiba was hovering above them.


	5. Chapter 5 - Haunted Mansion Madness

**Disclaimer: I do not own "Yu-Gi-Oh!" and its characters.**

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><p>The teens stared in shock at the hologram hovering above them. Kaiba was there, with his arms and legs crosses, grinning eerily at them.<p>

"Welcome to 'Murder Manion', everyone!" he greeted "You searched for an exit, but did you find one? If you don't escape this place soon, something terrible will happen!"

Kizuna stared at the hologram, now calm after the shock of having it appear right above her without warning. That guy was obviously enjoying making them go through all of that – what would he gain out of it? Could he really be doing it just because of a game? If she made it out of that house, she would need to have a serious talk with her nii about his career…

The brown-haired millionaire carried on with his monologue. "One night, someone slaughtered ten boy-scouts… and even a puzzle expert couldn't put the boys back together… They were chopped up into little bits! The killer has been nicknamed 'Chopper Man'… and no one ever found him…"

"_I've heard this story before…"_ Kizuna thought, frowning. _"It's thought to be an urban legend by some people… But wait, if he's talking about it now, and he really does want Yuugi and his friends to die…!" _

Jonouchi gulped. The teens stared at the hologram in shock, all arriving to the same conclusion as Kizuna.

"Wait a minute!" she gasped. "You mean this 'Chopper Man' is…!"

Kaiba sneered. "Heh… Exactly. 'Chopper' is hiding in this mansion!" he announced. "Kaiba Corporation values employees with cruel minds… We brought him to take charge of this Death-T attraction! If you don't want to meet him, you should escape as quickly as you can, right?"

Yuugi growled as the hovering image laughed, amused at their angered and shocked expressions.

"But with so little information, the game is unfair…" Kaiba said. "I'll give you a hint to the location of the exit. Look at the wall behind you…"

The teens did as they were told, and noticed that there were four holes on the wall, each with a number above them. "00", "01," "10" and "11".

"There are four holes in the wall!" Yuugi commented, which was unnecessary as all of them know how to count.

"_How come I didn't notice that before…?" _Kizuna thought, with a confused expression.

"Inside each hole is a switch…" Kaiba explained. "Pressing the correct switch will reveal the exit! Now, there are six of you and only four holes. Two of you will have to sit out."

"He says it as if it's a bad thing to not play this game…" Jonouchi grumbled.

"Decide quickly, and if you have the guts, each of you put your hand into a hole!"

Yuugi shot him a suspicious look, mirrored by Kizuna. That was a pretty obvious trap. There was no way that they were going to stick their hands in there! There would be probably be a knife or something inside that would cut them…

Kaiba chuckled. "What's the matter, you two? You look so suspicious… If you don't press the correct switch, you'll never find the exit."

The teens shared worried expressions amongst themselves, and then, very hesitantly, walked up to the holes in the wall. There was no other way. They had to play along if they wanted to get out of there.

"Kizuna-san, you stay out," Yuugi said, looking at Kizuna with a firm look.

"What – why me?" she protested.

"This whole thing has nothing to do with you. You are in danger here, and it's my fault," Yuugi declared, as he put his hand in the hole with number "10".

She huffed. "I thought we had already established that it was my decision to sneak in here, and thus it was _my _fault. Plus, you guys already did your share in other games, I want to help!"

Yuugi was adamant about his decision. "You are already helping by telling us what you know about these games. There is no need for all of us to get involved. If anything happened to you, who isn't even a part of this fight between me and Kaiba, I would never forgive myself."

Kizuna found no answer to his statement. So she stared at him with a frown, her eye twitching as she tried to find an argument that would make her come out victorious from that exchange of words. She couldn't came up with anything. Jonouchi and Honda put their hands in holes, same as Yuugi.

"Hold Jouji, please," Anzu requested, handing the chubby baby to the reluctant black-haired girl. "This should be over quickly."

Kizuna looked at Jouji with a furrowed brow. The infant grinned at her, resting his head in her chest. God damnit.

Suddenly, once Anzu placed her hand in the remaining hole, the teens all yelped in unison. "My hand is locked!" they all said.

The only teenager that did not have her hand restrained took a few steps in their direction with a concerned expression. "Wh-what is it? What's wrong?!"

Anzu seemed to be panicking. "Our hands!" she shrieked. "Something is making them stuck!"

Kizuna looked up. There was now a guillotine above the holes in the wall, seemingly placed to slice off their hands once it swooped down on them. Where did that thing come out from?!

Kaiba, once again, laughed at their expressions. "The game has begun! There are four switches, but only one is correct. If you press the wrong one, that huge blade will fall and chop off your right hands!" he warned. "And if you don't press one in five minutes, the blade will drop anyway. Remember, you only have one chance! The clue is hidden in this room… Good luck!"

And with that, the hologram flickered and disappeared.

"Well… this is a tight fix…" Kizuna muttered.

"No way!" Jonouchi snapped, freaking out. "Why can't we just try them all?!"

"It must have something to do with these numbers!" Yuugi reasoned. "'00', '01', '10', '11''…"

"Zeros and ones… Like binary computer signals…" Anzu added.

"I don't get it!" Jonouchi yelled, trying to yank his hand away from the hole.

"Kaiba said there was a clue in this room, right?" Honda reminded.

Kizuna shifted her feet nervously, not knowing what to do. She hated feeling useless. And that's exactly what she was being at the moment. Completely useless.

"But we looked everywhere and there was nothing…!" she wailed, looking around her desperately. "Except that scrap of paper…"

Yuugi's eyes widened. "That scrap of paper!" he repeated, reaching for his pocket and retrieving the paper with the word "bllood" written in it. He looked at it attentively.

His friends immediately joined in on trying to help him figure out the clue hidden in that word.

"Blood…? What the heck?!" Honda hissed.

"That's a pretty dubious clue!" Anzu complained, while Jonouchi said nothing.

"Damnit… how do the numbers and letters relate… I'm no good with puzzles!" Honda confessed.

"Yuugi is!" Anzu stated. "You solved the Millennium Puzzle! You can do this!"

Kizuna tilted her head. What was that "Millennium Puzzle" thing Anzu mentioned? Her eyes immediately darted towards the large object that was dangling off a chain around Yuugi's neck. Oh. Maybe that was it. It had the shape of a pyramid, with an Egyptian eye in the center, and it seemed pretty heavy. Not the kind of thing you'd expect a teenage boy to wear. But it should be important for Yuugi to carry it around with him.

Yuugi kept staring at the scrap, sweating as he tried to figure out the answer to the puzzle.

"Kizuna-san…" he called. "What did you say earlier about this paper…?"

Kizuna blinked. "Uhh… That the word is misspelled…?" She focused to try and remember. "Yeah… 'Blood' only has one 'l', but there are two in that letter…"

Jouji yawned loudly in her arms.

The pointy-haired teen kept staring intently at the scrap, as Kizuna gave him a quizzical look, wondering if what she had said had been of any help. That grammatical error could actually be a clue, but that was as far as her knowledge of puzzles went.

"Yuugi! We're out of time!" yelled Honda.

Kizuna looked up, as she saw, horrified, the blade of the guillotine swooping down on the teens. "Ah! The blade!"

"I get it!" Yuugi suddenly said, his concentrated expression changing to understanding. He turned to Anzu. "11! Anzu, push your switch!"

The brunette nodded promptly. "Okay!"

A clicking noise was heard. The blade stopped just in time. Kizuna let out a deeply relieved sigh, as her heart started calming down from the stress.

"The blade stopped! I was right!" Yuugi exclaimed happily.

The teens were now free to take their hands away from the holes, looking at them as if to check it they were in fact still there.

"You did it, Yuugi!" Jonouchi cheered, looking at his right hand in absolute marvel.

"How did you figure it out?" Anzu wanted to know.

"Well, when I first saw the paper, I focused on the word 'blood'… but the letters were the clue! In the word 'blood', all of the letters are made of circles and lines, like '1' and '0'," he explained, turning to Kizuna. "After Kizuna-san pointed out that the word was misspelled, I noticed that the extra 'l' had an arrow pointing down. So the correct answer was the pair with the arrow – 11, Anzu's switch!"

The black-haired girl stared at Yuugi in amazement. She would have never have figured all that out on her own! That kid was some kind of gaming genius or something.

"See, Kizuna-chan?" Anzu said suddenly, patting Kizuna's shoulder lightly. "You did help in the end!"

She blinked, then making a small smile. "Eh… I guess… But, where is the exit then?"

"It must be under our feet," Yuugi replied, just as a cracking noise turned their attentions towards the floor.

A gap was opening on the wooden floor, revealing a secret door labeled "EXIT". The glint of adventure sparkled once again in Kizuna's eyes.

"Ooooh I wonder what it looks like down there!" Kizuna rushed towards the secret door hastily, opening it without a second thought.

"Kizuna-chan, be careful," Anzu said, patiently. "Did you forget what just happened? We can get seriously hurt if we're not…"

The brunette's words were lost as she gasped in shock. Kizuna barely had time to turn her head in her direction to see what was going on before she felt someone grab her hand with a ridiculously strong grip.

"Ow! What is - GAH!"

Without even managing to see what had grabbed her, whatever it was pulled her down roughly, making her fall along with Jouji, who gasped in surprise.

Everything went black in an instant.

* * *

><p>"<em>Ugh… where am… OW God my heart hurts…! What the heck happened…?"<em>

**BANG**

Kizuna twitched her eyes open. A loud noise of a door closing woke her up. Weird. She didn't remember falling asleep in the first place… Wait a minute… _falling?_

She felt suddenly very much awake once she remembered what had just happened a second ago. She had opened the door to the exit of Death-T 3, and then… and then… something grabbed her, and pulled her under.

She could hear voices, and she felt like she was hanging in a dark, dark place. One look up and she saw her hands were in handcuffs, connected to a chain that made her hang on the wall. She was trapped!

"_Ah don't tell me I'm supposed to be the damsel in distress in the next game…"_ she whined in her thoughts. _"That's a fate worse than death right there…"_

One look in front, and she wished she was still out cold. The figure in front of her was wearing a stitched mask, though his disfigured face was still slightly noticeable through the wholes made for the eyes and mouth. She squeaked, trying to move away from him as far as she could.

"GAH! Who the hell are you?!"

The figure grinned wickedly, licking his lips. "Guh heheh… Such a pretty face and skin… I can't wait to slice it and chop you up…"

Kizuna grimaced in disgust. "Eww! Back off you weirdo!" she spat, using her feet to push him away harshly – or at least try; the man was so bulky it probably felt more like a light tap.

"Hey, Chopper freak! Get away from her!" yelled a familiar male voice.

The lights went on. Now she could see that they were in a circular area, with some liquid substance underneath, too dark to be water. It almost looked like tar… Above her heads were several weapons, which all seemed very real. This did not look like any room her brother would have designed.

"Kizuna!"

She looked past the man in front of her to see who had spoken. It was Jonouchi, who was chained to the grinning beast and had Jouji in his arms.

"Kizuna, you alright?" he asked, sparing a second to glare at the grinning beast as if to make sure he was staying away.

"Wah – Jon-san? Where are we? What's going on?!" she shouted.

"Don't worry, I'll get ya out of there!" he assured. "I just have to beat this game."

"Kizuna-chan, are you hurt?" Anzu asked, worriedly. She was on the other side of a sturdy-looking wooden door, along with Honda and Yuugi, who seemed both concerned and relieved to see her.

"I'm okay!" Kizuna said, looking at the massive beast of a man in front of her. "But who's this guy?"

"Heh… Allow to me introduce… Chopper Man!" said yet another familiar voice. Kizuna took a couple of seconds to realize the massive man was holding some sort of TV screen, and that Kaiba was speaking through it.

"Kaiba-sama…" the beast growled. "When can I hack up that guy?! I can't wait anymore…"

"Wait for the start of the game!" Kaiba ordered.

Now Kizuna understood it. Jonouchi probably had to play some kind of "game" against Chopper Man in order to save her. Damn it, if she hadn't rushed to open the door he wouldn't have grabbed her so easily...

Kaiba looked at Jonouchi with his eerie smile. "The rules are simple. As soon as the game begins, each of you will choose a weapon and fight to the death. There are weapons hanging from the ceiling. You can reach them by standing on that pedestal. And be careful not to slip in that tar!"

The trapped girl looked between the weapons and the tar. That was all good and well, but there was no way Chopper Man would just give Jonouchi enough to time to stand on the pedestal and calmly pick his weapon. The guy seemed insanely strong too, as if he actually needed a weapon to fight!

"Game Start!"

Chopper Man made a horrible laugh as he slumped over to the pedestal. "Now… which one will I use to chop you up…?"

"You don't need a weapon! No fair!" Jonouchi argued. He desperately turned to Yuugi. "Hey! Don't you guys have anything pointy?!"

"I'll look for one, Jonouchi-kun!" said Yuugi.

Kizuna tried to secure her feet on the wall to try and get her hands off her handcuffs, but it was impossible. "God!" she hissed to herself, annoyed. "Damn this… ugh!" Growing increasingly frustrated, she kicked the wall, which proved to be a mistake, since it started aching immensely.

"Kizuna, just hold on!" the blonde said. "Once I get these handcuffs off I'll get you out!"

"Oh it's fine, it's not like I can go anywhere…" she retorted, still extremely frustrated with herself. It was probably for the best if she gave up on trying to release herself – it wasn't going to take her anywhere.

Chopper Man finally chose his weapon – a chainsaw, naturally. "I'll chop you up with this one!" he bellowed, aggressively.

Jonouchi dashed away from the man, as he charged at him, laughing maniacally. The teen was having a hard time moving because of the tar, and since his foe was so strong, it was ridiculously easy for him to use the chain to prevent Jonouchi from running properly. Once one of his attacks on the blonde got his chainsaw stuck in the rocky pedestal, Jonouchi took the chance to form a plan with Yuugi, thought due to the distance, Kizuna could not hear them.

"_What are they plotting back there?"_ she thought, keeping Chopper Man under surveillance. Once he released his weapon, she warned Jonouchi. "Jon-san, look out!"

The blonde looked back at his massive foe.

"There's nowhere to hide!" the hideous man said. "I'm gonna chop you up! Get over here!"

He pulled the chain with his brute strength once more, but, instead of pulling Jonouchi, it pulled the door right off its hinges.

"EEK!" Kizuna shrieked, as pieces of rubble flew everywhere.

Even Kaiba's face on the TV seemed surprised. "What the… He unlocked the handcuffs and tied them to the door…! And a candlestick…!"

Kizuna blinked. Ah, so that was their plan… The chain was no longer connected to Jonouchi's wrists – the handcuffs ere around the candlestick, which Jonouchi had got stuck in the bars of the wooden door's window. That way, once Chopper Man pulled the chain, he ended up opening the door.

"That's called 'using the enemy's strength against them'!" Jonouchi grinned. "Thanks for opening the door!"

As if it was falling in slow motion, the door landed on the tar, along with the lit candle. Chopper Man's horrified expression showed that he knew very well what would happen if that candle fell in the tar…

The fire of the candle set the tar on fire, along with Chopper Man. The man shrieked in pain, as Kizuna turned her face away. Within seconds, Jonouchi was next to her, picking the lock that restrained her and moving her away from the flames, over to the now open door.

"Thank you, Jon-san," Kizuna muttered, smiling. "For you to risk your life to save mine, that means a lot."

He grinned. "Next time just try not to rush into things without thinking about how you're getting out of them, alright?"

She pouted. As if she knew there was going to be a maniac waiting for her to open the door to grab her!

Anzu frowned. "Jonouchi… You're the exact same as her," she pointed out calmly.

"What?! No way!" he protested.

"Ha! Maybe that's why he got so worked up when you got grabbed. You should have seen it," Honda said, teasingly.

"Hey I didn't -"

"He even volunteered to play the game and everything…" Yuugi added.

"Don't we have a next challenge to go to?!" Jonouchi finally snapped, stomping ahead of them, seeming extremely annoyed. "Let's go!"

"Oh, he's angry now…"

Kizuna stood at the same spot for a few seconds, watching the teens follow Jonouchi, snickering to each other. She smiled. They were all such good friends. And they were so welcoming. Even though she was a stranger to them, they were already willing to risk their lives to help her out. She would have to find a way to make it up to them one day. One day… maybe… she would be the one to save them.


End file.
